Welcome to the LibGuide for the 340.606 Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis course. This resource will help guide you through the searching assignment for this class.
A good search strategy, customized for the database being searched, is the foundation of a good systematic review.
Databases must be searched as comprehensively as possible in order to identify all of the documents relevant to your systematic review. The following components used in comprehensive searching will be covered in your assignment:
You will be developing search strategies for PubMed and Embase for your assigned topic.
The team of Welch Medical Library informationists listed below will be providing assistance with your search strategies. Groups will meet with their assigned informationists during class. Groups are also encouraged to meet with their informationists outside of class prior to submitting their search strategies.
| Group | Informationist | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Claire Twose |
|
| 2 |
Claire Twose |
|
| 3 | Rob Wright | rwrigh32@jhmi.edu |
| 4 | Rob Wright | rwrigh32@jhmi.edu |
| 5 | Ellie Wecker | |
| 6 |
Lori Rosman Breck Turner |
|
| 7 |
Lori Rosman Breck Turner |
|
| 8 | Stella Seal | sms@jhmi.edu |
| 9 | Stella Seal | sms@jhmi.edu |
Before you start searching, prepare to save your search in a Word document. By saving your search, your strategy will be reproducible for another time and properly documented.
Use these search strategy templates to document your search strategies for PubMed and Embase.
Both your PubMed and Embase searches are due in the CoursePlus dropbox by 12 Noon Wednesday, February 14, 2024.
Informationists will provide feedback for both searches, but will only grade the PubMed search. The rubric for grading the PubMed search is included below.
This searching assignment has been developed to facilitate the timely completion of search strategies for two key databases for the purpose of this class. We DO NOT advocate restricting the number of databases searched or the types of strategies that augment database searching (e.g. handsearching and grey literature searching) during the completion of a "real life" systematic review.
For more about the guidelines for a full systematic review, ask your informationist and/or consult the library's guide called "Systematic Reviews and Other Expert Reviews" (also available from the "More about Systematic Reviews" page of this guide).